The Christmas Intervention
by waterbaby134
Summary: Set directly after 'The Christmas Invasion.' Jackie Tyler has already lost her daughter once to a time-travelling alien. Now he's regenerated, can she finally persuade her to give him up? Hints of TenxRose.


**So this story is set between the end of The Christmas Invasion and the beginning of New Earth. I just don't see Jackie letting Rose skip off again with a complete stranger without putting up a fight.**

**I am not strictly a TenxRose shipper but you'll find hints of it in here. Rose is not my favourite companion, but I liked her for the lighter side she brought out in the Doctor.**

**I hope you enjoy. Nothing recognisable is mine. **

* * *

It had certainly been one of the stranger Christmases of Jackie Tyler's life. Spaceships in the sky, people walking around like zombies and her daughter arriving with her unconscious alien friend sporting a brand new face and a gob to match.

Rose and the Doctor were standing in the kitchen now, doing the dishes after Christmas dinner, though in the case of the alien, somewhat reluctantly.

"_Rose_," he'd whined as she'd grabbed him by the hand and dragged him to the kitchen, "I came out of a coma and saved the whole planet today, haven't I done enough?"

"Oi!" her daughter snapped. "You owe mum this. If it weren't for her tea you wouldn't have been any good to anyone. Kitchen. Now."

Jackie had watched in mild surprise as the Doctor seemed to crumble a little under Rose's stern gaze, and followed her meekly into the kitchen. He certainly was different to the leather-jacketed incarnation that had first whisked Rose away in his blue box.

She sneaked a look into the kitchen, where the pair were standing at the sink, washing and drying in silence, sneaking a glance at one another every now and then. They seemed a little wary of each other, though she supposed what they'd been through over the last few days would make anyone feel a little awkward. It couldn't have been easy for the Doctor to have his entire appearance and personality reset, and she knew it had been terrible for Rose to see it happen.

Her daughter had barely left his bedside while he'd been recuperating, but she could still see the hurt and the pain in her eyes, at how_ her_ Doctor could have left her, and put this new one in his place. The question now was, who was he?

* * *

The Doctor decided to spend the night in the TARDIS, so Jackie, Mickey and Rose could spend some time together. Jackie threw him a grateful look when he'd proposed this idea, but wasn't entirely sure he caught it as he was busy persuading Rose not to accompany him.

"I've got to make some repairs before we go," he said. "That crash landing didn't do her any favours. You stay here, have some time with your family and we should be ready to go in the morning."

"You really do still want me then?" Rose asked, so quietly that Jackie almost missed it. "You're not just going to go and fly away while I'm here watchin' reruns of EastEnders?"

The Doctor reached for Rose's hand; she hesitated, but allowed him to take it.

"Never," he said, and squeezed her hand. "I'll see you in the morning."

Rose closed the door behind him with an odd expression on her face. Her eyes were fixed on his retreating silhouette and she didn't seem to register Jackie's approach from the other room.

"Everythin' OK, sweetheart?" she asked.

"Yeah," said Rose, softly. "It's just goin' to take some gettin' used to, that's all."

"You don't have to," Jackie suggested. It had been running through her mind since yesterday. Rose, being her ever-loyal self had promised to travel with the new Doctor, but her mother wasn't convinced she was really comfortable with her decision. She'd been so unsure of him only hours ago. Perhaps there was a way to use this situation to get her daughter back permanently. Persuade her that an ordinary life wasn't so bad.

"What?" Rose let out an incredulous laugh, making her eyes sparkle. If it was possible, the rare times she was home where when Jackie missed her daughter the most. Once upon a time they'd been as close as a mother and daughter could be. But now, even when Rose was here, she wasn't really _here_. Her heart and her mind were still up in the stars in that strange new life Jackie knew she could never fully understand.

Still, she'd never forgive herself if she didn't try.

"Please don't go again," Jackie said. "You've seen and done more in this past year that most people do in a lifetime. An' I know he helped you do that. But you didn't sign up for the new face, darling. You don't owe him anything now."

Rose reached over and pulled her into a hug. "I love you, mum," she said, quietly. "An' I'm so sorry that I'm hurtin' you, but he needs me. Now more than ever. I can't leave him."

"He'll survive," said Jackie dismissively. "He's got along all right without you for 'undreds of years, surely he can do it again. Maybe find himself some other young human girl to kidnap an' brainwash."

A flash of hurt flashed through Rose's eyes, but Jackie couldn't quite bring herself to be sorry. Of course, she knew _now_ that the Doctor wouldn't harm a hair on her Rose's head, but she still hadn't forgiven him for the year she'd spent frantic with worry over her daughter's disappearance. She'd even turned against Mickey, dear Mickey, who had never done anything but watch out for and love Rose for their entire lives.

After the Doctor and Rose's last visit, Mickey had come round for dinner one night and over two bottles of wine, had told her the whole story. About the plastic monsters they'd ended up trying to fight, how the Doctor had asked Rose to come with him, and how Rose had consequently pecked him on the cheek and run off with that grumpy old alien without a backward glance. Jackie had been quite annoyed at her daughter's behaviour, and if Rose had been around, she'd have received a swift backhander for that nonsense. Mickey had stood by her for years. He'd deserved better.

"The Doctor's not like that, mum," said Rose earnestly, grasping her tightly by the hand. "You don' know him like I do."

"He's handy to have around in a crisis, I'll give him that," Jackie admitted, grudgingly. "But so's a police officer or a fireman, Rose. You know Debbie Benthan's son Michael just graduated the police academy. Maybe you should give him a call, see if he wants to catch up?"

Rose gave her a strange look. "You hate Debbie Benthan," she said. "You've always said she's a boring, naggy drip and her son's no better." She peered at her with concern. "Are you feelin' all right mum?" she asked. "It's been a hell of a day. Stay here a minute and I'll make us some tea."

Before Jackie could stop her, she'd flounced past her into the kitchen, and she heard the clink of china as teacups were taken down from the cupboard. She sighed. Rose was right, she_ did_ despise Debbie Bentham and her ninny of a son. How he'd ever qualified as a police offer, she'd never know. But on the other hand, he was a human, a nice, normal, non face-changing human, and right now, that made him an incredibly attractive prospect for her daughter.

When Rose was in high school, she'd driven Jackie to distraction, cutting classes, mixing with the wrong crowd, and chasing boys all over London. Jackie had used to go to bed every night and pray for the end. These days, she could only long for the days when things had been so simple. An unruly teenager she could handle. A daughter who disappeared to the far reaches of the universe for months at a time, she could not.

"Do you think I should try somethin' new with my hair?" Rose was re-entering the room, a cup of tea in each hand.

"Why on Earth would you want to do that?" Jackie asked. People had always said how much she and Rose looked alike, other than her eyes, there wasn't much of Pete in her at all. But she was Jackie's daughter, plain as day, and she'd always liked that.

Rose giggled, and handed her a teacup. "The Doctor's just had a facelift," she joked. "Maybe I should update my look a little too." Her face fell slightly. "He's so differen' now, he might be tired of lookin' at a plain ol' shopgirl day after day."

Jackie could tell the idea was troubling her more than she wanted to admit, and she felt a sudden surge of annoyance toward the alien.

"If he's said anything to you of the sort, I'll slap him into the next dimension," she said.

Rose looked surprised at this view of things. "Don't be stupid mum," she said, a little sadly. "Of course he didn't, I don' know why I even said that." She heaved a deep sigh. "Besides, even if I did do somethin' different he probably wouldn't even notice."

Jackie disagreed. More than once, she'd caught him glancing appreciatively at Rose over Christmas dinner and she could tell he'd liked what he saw. Rose, though still a little wary of him had caught him looking once and blushed. Jackie was just glad Mickey hadn't witnessed the exchange.

"Why don't you stay here for a while?" Jackie suggested. "Jus' for a couple of days while 'e gets his head on straight. We can go to the sales and get ourselves some nice new clothes."

Once upon a time, the offer of new clothes would have been irresistible to Rose, but now, though she smiled, she shook her head.

"I need to get to know 'im again mum," she said. "I can't do that if I'm away from him. Besides, who knows what kind of trouble he'll get into if I leave him on his own; that big mouth of his could easily have got us killed up there today, the idiot."

"You say that like it's nothin'," said Jackie, in wonderment. Hearing her daughter being so blasé about her own death didn't sit well with her.

"You get used to danger, running with the Doctor," said Rose, with a shrug. "And as soon as he came out of the TARDIS I knew we'd be all right." She sighed. "I wish you could have seen 'im mum, fightin' the Sycorax and savin' the world. Then you'd understand."

* * *

They went to rejoin Mickey in the sitting room, and the subject of the Doctor was mercifully dropped. The three of them sat together for hours, watching the soaps, and Jackie was reminded of the old times. They used to do this every Saturday, Mickey, Rose, and her. They'd get fish-and-chips from the shop around the corner and make a night of it. More often than not, Mickey wouldn't bother going home, and they'd all crash out on the sofa. She'd loved it.

Just after midnight, Rose's eyelids began to droop and soon she was curled up against Mickey's shoulder, fast asleep. She'd been awake for over twenty-four hours tending to the Doctor, and it had finally caught up with her.

Jackie reached over and gently stroked her daughter's hair.

"I can't believe she's leavin' me again in the morning," she whispered to Mickey. "How do we know we can even trust this new Doctor?"

Mickey sighed. "Jackie, nobody's got more reason to agree with you than me, but you didn't see him up there," he said. "He was brilliant. And the way she looked at him-" he gestured to Rose- "it made it pretty clear where things stood."

"You shouldn't give up so easily," Jackie said, but Mickey shook his head ruefully.

"I'm not. Not yet anyway," he said gloomily. "But he can give her the entire universe, Jackie. How's any bloke supposed to compete with that?"

Jackie reached across her sleeping daughter and smacked him smartly on the arm. He let out a hiss of pain, and glared at her. "What was that for?"

"You were here for us long before that sodding alien came swannin' into our lives," she said. "And don't you forget it, Mickey Smith, or I'll smack it into ya myself, see if I don't. Now, you look after her a minute," she said, gesturing to Rose and getting up from the sofa. "I got somethin' to do."

She didn't care how many times Rose told her of the many wonderful features of the TARDIS, it still just looked like a box to Jackie. She rapped on the door and it was flung open immediately by a grinning Doctor, screwdriver in hand.

"Just couldn't stay away, could you?" he said cheerfully. "I knew the new face would grow on you—oh." The smile immediately subsided when he realized the true identity of his visitor, but the chatter didn't. "Jackie. What a…surprise. Well...I suppose should say it's pleasant, but that would be lying and lying is rude, I think, and I suppose it's a Tyler so some might say close enough, but others would say that-"

"Shut it, you!" she snapped, and to her surprise, he obeyed.

"Now listen up, you bloody alien. I've been tryin' all night to talk her out of runnin' off with you again, but she won't have a bar of it. So let's you an' me get somethin' straight once and for all. You can take her galaxy-hoppin' or world-rescuin' or whatever the bloody hell it is you two do in this box of yours-" she smacked the wooden door of the TARDIS to prove the point-"but the second she says she's had enough and wants to come home, I don't care what you're doin', but you drop everythin' and bring her home to me. Is that clear?"

The Doctor opened his mouth to respond, but seemed to think better of it, and closed it again.

"Rose is all I've got," Jackie went on. "So you damn well better look after her. Else I'll come and slap your pretty-boy face into the next one."

The Doctor cringed at this. "If there were any human I could believe was capable of inducing a regeneration, it would be you, Jackie," he said. "But this is Rose's choice, not yours." He took a long breath. "I can't promise she'll always be safe. As long as she's with me, she'll be in danger. But one way or another, Jackie, I swear I'll always bring her home to you."

"That's not very reassuring," she said.

"You're not listening!" he snapped, in frustration. "I won't stand here and promise you that I'll always be able to protect her from any kind of harm, because sometimes I just can't. There are things even I can't control. But she knows what she signed up for, and she's tough, and she's brave, and she's brilliant. There's nobody I'd rather have at my side. And there isn't much I wouldn't do to keep her there."

Jackie studied him for a long time. Of course, being an alien, he could have been having her on completely and she'd never know, but the sincerity in his eyes finally convinced her he was genuine. She nodded once.

"See that she does, then," she said. "Or you'll have me to answer to."

* * *

To her surprise and delight, it was only a few weeks after they left that the Doctor kept his word and brought her home. Rose had phoned excitedly from some godforsaken planet Jackie couldn't remember the name of, and told her they were coming back to London for a visit. Something about Mickey and some schoolchildren, she said, and it made Jackie smile to realize Mickey had yet to completely throw in the towel on their relationship.

Of course, when she spotted the Doctor and Rose emerging from the TARDIS, she was forced to acknowledge Mickey was probably fighting a long-lost battle. Rose was clutching the Doctor's arm and gazing adoringly up at him as he yammered away about something or other. She looked radiantly happy, more so than Jackie ever remembered seeing her before.

For a while she'd been on the point of tying Rose down with ropes in order to keep her from leaving again, but now, she was glad she hadn't.

The moment the Doctor stepped out of line however, all bets were off.

** I hope you found something to like in this story. I enjoyed writing it, and I'd be pleased to hear your ****thoughts.**


End file.
